Efficacy of Fibromyalgia Treatment Using Bach Flower Therapy

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Fibromyalgia (FM) is a disease characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain, body stiffness, paraesthesias, non-restful sleep and fatigue and symmetrically distributed tender points. The diagnosis of fibromyalgia is clinical, with an increase in pain sensitivity in 11 of the 18 points standardized by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) that are searched by digital pressure on the tender points. The disease does not have any laboratory or characteristic image changes. These tests are performed to exclude other diseases. The literature points to the prevalence of fibromyalgia in the population with values between 0.2 and 6.6%, being more prevalent in women than in men, especially in the age group between 35 and 60 years. Often 30-70% of patients have other symptoms such as peripheral edema, dry eye and mouth, headache, irritable bowel syndrome, and various other digestive symptoms, all of them are known as dysbiosis. In addition, psychological conditions such as anxiety, irritability, insomnia and depression are extremely common in patients with FM.

The treatment of fibromyalgia involves the use of analgesics and antidepressants. Physical therapy, water aerobics, psychotherapy are complementary and very relevant treatments in this disease. Drug treatment fails in 30 to 40% of cases and many patients still experience several adverse drug effects. In this sense, it is logical to think about new treatment modalities. Bach florals (BF) are an alternative and complementary therapeutic system, created by Dr. Edward Bach in 1929, and consists of the use of solutions in which flowers are put in contact with water and it acquires healing properties. No adverse effects with BF were described. The aim of BF is to re-establish the emotional balance, allowing that the individuals become aware of the difficulties that bother them and work on the situations which concern them.